(Photo: Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images)
It was supposed to be a special moment. An anointed son was returning to the palace in which he conquered college basketball. College basketball’s all-time assist record holder returned to the place where he dished out 1076 dimes, won two National Championships and appeared in three Final Fours.
Arizona State basketball head coach Bobby Hurley was heralded as a hero as he stepped inside Cameron Indoor Stadium for the first time as a member of anybody but the Blue Devils on Sunday. Hurley entered the arena in which his jersey hangs, greeted warmly by the Cameron Crazies.
After all the pictures were taken, the game finally tipped off, and for the first time in his life, Bobby Hurley was on the receiving side of Duke’s dominance. With his whole family in attendance, Hurley was subjected to a 56-point beatdown as the Sun Devils shot just 28% from the field in a 103-47 defeat.
“My granddaughter’s never going to remember this game; she’s three years old, thank God,” Hurley said. “It was her first game, so hopefully, there will be better days ahead for her.”
Hopefully there will be better days ahead for the Sun Devils as well, and luckily for them, this game will not go on the record. The season hasn’t started. ASU is still 0-0, but the exhibition game went about as bad as an exhibition game could go.
ASU opened up missing its first 10 consecutive threes, and by the time freshman guard/forward Amier Ali sank the Sun Devils first shot from beyond the arc, ASU was down 28-14 with just four minutes left in the first half. By the time the clock finally hit zero at the end of the game, ASU hit just five more threes after Ali, hitting just 25% of its 24 shots.
One of Hurley’s main aims this past offseason was to address the three-point shooting of a team that hit just 30% of them a year ago, ranking 338th in the country. If Sunday’s performance is any indication, then the Sun Devils could be in some trouble entering the strong Big 12.
“I didn’t come out and play the guys that shouldn’t have been on the floor,” Hurley said. “I wasn’t experimenting tonight. Like, this just happened to us. We got our a** kicked. … Hats off to where they are and ‘oh s**t’ about where we are.”
It was not an impressive showing for anybody in Maroon and Gold, but it was the first chance to see ASU’s highly touted freshman take the floor. Freshman big man Jayden Quaintance, who just turned 17 this past July, got his first experience on the NCAA level. He was greeted by the No.1 recruit in his class and the projected No.1 overall pick in the NBA draft, freshman Cooper Flagg.
Obviously the matchup did not go how Quaintance would want, but it was clear that he looked at least comfortable on the floor. Hurley has praised him as one of the most talented players he has coached, and Quaintance showed some of it on Sunday, finishing at least tied for the team lead in points, rebounds and assists.
“I value the team as a whole and not singling out individuals, but I was forced to really single out Jayden Quaintance as a bright spot,” Hurley said. “He wasn’t perfect. He didn’t make all the shots or whatever, but he belonged in that game tonight. He was ready for that game, to play on that floor, and he didn’t look out of place.”
While he might never be the legend in Tempe that he is in Durham, Hurley is now entering his tenth year at the helm, and now, after being embarrassed in the home that made him a legend, the Sun Devils have one week to get right before their first season in college basketball’s toughest conference.
If anything is clear coming out of the loss, it is that ASU has a lot to clean up, not just for the Big 12, but for Idaho State on opening night.
“I have ammunition this week,” Hurley said. “That’s the main thing I got for getting our team ready. This is the ultimate wake-up call. If we don’t advance from this, then we don’t have a lot of hope this year. If we are not a completely different team on opening night, then we’ve learned nothing from this.”
